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art
ARTworks
Whether a pastoral landscape or a graphic
portrait, art pieces can shed light on contemporary realities. Artists
can lay bare their perspective through paint, print or photo and
leave the viewer all the more thoughtful about the world around
them, and perhaps about their own personal journeys. These four
artists do just that—and what’s more, they push the
envelope of medium and message, widening the road for artists to
come. Crucial to their success are the art houses that exhibit them.
So, here too, we look at the exhibitions making waves across the
nation.
By Idy Fernandez
 Christian
Curiel
Looking Forward, Looking Back
Just as therapists delve into one’s past to find truths about
the present, so too, it seems, does artist Christian Curiel. With
a soft-focus lens aimed squarely at the tender times of youth, his
interpretations are as dreamy as memories—part documentary
and part fantastical. His works, he writes, are meant to evoke fuzzy
memories, as if recalling bits and pieces of a moment often thought
back to and colored by interpretation. In addition to their nostalgic
aesthetics, his pieces might also be interpreted as a commentary
on a ripened perception of childhood experience. “I often
use allegory and symbolism to allow viewers to access, imagine,
and re-live childhood,” writes Curiel in his artist statement.
“Storytelling in my paintings works like memory functions—non-sequential
and fragmented, constructed and revealing with time.” The
native Puerto Rican born to Cuban parents has had numerous exhibitions,
including at VOLTA NY, Art Nova at Art Basel in Miami Beach, and
in Paris, Germany and more.
 Dulce
Pinzón
Inside The New World
Dulce Pinzón’s intimate and engaging portraiture has
graced the covers of books and magazines. Each image, regardless
of the series to which it belongs, sheds light on modern realities
– from the role of the new immigrant to the face of the increasingly
multiracial world. Though her work as a photographer spans subjects,
Pinzón is probably best known for her “Superheroes”
series, a highly stylized series of 12 portraits capturing working
Mexican immigrants in New York City dressed as superheroes. Superman
is a bicycle delivery man. Wonder Woman tackles the wash at the
laundromat. Under each image, the artist details what the subjects
do and how much money they are able to send back to Mexico. The
artists says she was inspired by the frequency of the use of the
word hero immediately following September 11, 2001. Pinzón
took note of the Mexican immigrants in New York who, through their
toil, support two economies —that of New York City, and of
their native Mexico. “The principal objective of this series
is to pay homage to these brave and determined men and women that
somehow manage, without the help of any supernatural power, to withstand
extreme conditions of labor in order to help their families and
communities survive and prosper,” writes Pinzón in
the introduction to her gallery.
 Dignidad
Rebelde
A Graphic Perspective
Focusing on the art of protest posters, Dignidad Rebelde is the
brainchild of activist-artist duo Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes.
The pieces on which the artists collaborate are as much documentary
as commentary. Basing some pieces on true events in California and
using actual photographs, the pieces serve as cultural archives
while vehemently voicing a position. Colors are bold and contrasting
and the range of subject matter highlights  the
artists’ global perspective—they tackle the plight of
the undocumented worker, police abuse, environmentalism, indigenous
rights and Middle Eastern peace. Barraza, a printmaker and digital
artist, and Cervantes, a self-trained artist, are committed to the
use of the print screen as both fine art and tools for social change.
Dignidad Rebelde also fosters artists who hope to support social
justice causes.
You’ve heard of creating a “bucket list,”
well be sure you squeeze in time for art. This fall, some of the
most interesting, engaging, comprehensive, critically acclaimed
and simply beautiful exhibitions are welcoming visitors. These are
our picks for some of the season’s must-see sights.
Exhibition:
¡Aquí Estamos! Works from the Permanent Collection
Museum:
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque
This exhibition of works from the museum’s permanent collection
celebrates the Latino artists who mark our world with their individual
creative spirit. Using a variety of approaches and media, the artists
demonstrate the nuanced, fluid, and contested meaning of what it
is to be Hispanic.
Exhibition:
A Bridge to the Americas
Museum:
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California
This exhibition presents more than 100 works of art that reflect
the diversity, individuality and universality of the Latin American
artists. It is organized into four themes—mestizaje of identity,
urban and rural landscapes, political history and religious practices—which
are rotated throughout the year.
Exhibition:
The Ancient Art of the Americas or Art of the People
Museum:
Museo De Las Americas, Denver
The Museo has grown its collections to more than 4,000 objects and
has developed these two collections that provide a distinct look
into two fascinating worlds of Latin America.
Exhibition:
American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music
Museum:
Museo Alameda, San Antonio
The first interpretive museum exhibition to tell the story of the
profound influence and impact of Latinos in American popular music.
In American Sabor, Latino culture sprinkles large amounts of rhythmic
styles, distinct beats, and flamboyant attitudes into the mainstream
pop music, conjuring up images of Ritchie Valens or Tito Puente
and their influences on bands ranging from Los Lobos and Santana
to Miami Sound Machine and Selena.
Exhibition:
Rogelio Salmona: Open Spaces/Collective Spaces
Museum:
Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C.
The first U.S. exhibition devoted entirely to the work of celebrated
Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona (1929-2007) in its first traveling
stop in North America. For 50 years, Salmona was a key figure in
the intellectual life of Colombia and Latin America and was part
of a group of architects who, in reaction to the ubiquitous nature
of international modernism, favored architecture designed with location,
landscape and topography in mind.
Exhibition:
Pre-Columbian Collection
Museum:
El Museo del Barrio, New York
These holdings feature approximately 2,000 domestic and ceremonial
objects from the pre-Columbian cultures of the Caribbean including
the Igneris, Caribs and Taíno. The Taíno collection
is the second largest in the United States.
Exhibition:
Nuevo Mexico: El Corazón de La Cultura
Museum:
Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe
New Mexico: The Heart of Culture showcases the Hispano/Latino arts
of New Mexico from the early colonial period to present.
Exhibition:
North Looks South: Building the Latin American Art Collection
Museum:
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
This exhibition celebrates the museum’s increasingly well-known
and major Latin American art acquisitions since 2001, which includes
more than 80 works in every medium, ranging in date from the 1920s
to the present. The works are organized around unexpected juxtapositions
between artists and include pieces from Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
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